Belt puller

ABSTRACT

A belt puller for clamping together for interengagement adjacent free ends of elongated objects, such as industrial belting. A pair of clamps supported on movable arms engage these free ends and draw them together upon the squeezing of an interconnected hand clamp.

United States Patent lnvcntor Dana Walker Delray Beach, Fla. Appl. No.832,802 Filed June 12, 1969 Patented Aug. 17, 1971 Assignee Kay SjostromBoca Raton, Fla.

BELT PULLER 4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 254/52 Int. Cl Fl6g 11/00 Field of Search V 81/367- AllReferences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1910 1/1913 l/l924 l/192612/1957 Primary ExaminerRobert C. Riordon Assistant Examiner-Roscoe V.Parker Att0meyWolf, Greenfield & Sacks ABSTRACT: A belt puller forclamping together for interengagement adjacent free ends of elongatedobjects, such as industrial belting. A pair of clamps supported onmovable arms engage these free ends and draw them together upon thesqueezing of an interconnected hand clamp.

PATENTEU AUG] 7 I97l SHEEI I BF 2 BELT PULLER CROSS-REFERENCES TORELATED PATENTS The hand clamp utilized in the present invention is ofconventional design and is disclosed, at least in part, in U.S. Pat.Nos. 2,641,149; 2,514,130; and 2,280,005.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION The present invention relates to a tool formaking the free ends of the elongated objects and more particularly totying together the ends of belts under tension to facilitateinterengagement.

Many industrial machines use endless belts or webs for powertransmission, conveyor purposes, and other similar applications.Typically, such belts or webs are formed to a definite length which isadapted to be tensioned around suitable rollers, pulleys, and the like;and when so tensioned, the free ends are locked together. Frequently,substantial tension is required; and as a consequence, it is oftendifficult to manually juxtapose the free ends of the belts for joining.Proper alignment also presents difficulties because of the belt tensionand the precise nature of the necessary interlock which frequentlyconsists of loops or lacings to be interleaved and secured by a pin orother joining element. Such alignment and tensioning frequently requiresseveral men to exert considerable effort for a protracted period inorder to join the free belt ends. The problems posed by theserequirements are substantial, not only because expensive machinedowntime frequently will be involved until the belt can be joined.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide an improved tool for interconnecting the ends of lacedbelts andthe like. A further object is to provide such a tool capable of grippingor clamping the ends of elongated objects such as belting or webbing andbringing them into aligned juxtaposition for interlocking. A furtherobject is to provide a tool which may be operated by a single individualin a short time, which requires little strength or skill on the part ofthe operator, and which produces increased belt tension where required(thereby improving belt operation and minimizing loss of time for beltreplacement and maintenance).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of abelt-pulling tool embodying the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view in partial fragmentary form of theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to thedrawings, there is shown a tool for mating the free ends of a pair ofelongated objects, for example, the free ends of a single industrialbelt, which has been looped about rolls or the like. The free ends 1 and2 are shown in dotted outline in FIG. 1. Frequently, such belts areinterconnccted by a pin passing through aligned wire loops affixed tothe free ends (shown at 3). Because such belts are frequently requiredto operate under significant tension, it is obviously difficult tomanually produce the required degree of tension for interconnectionafter mounting the belt on rolls or the like. This difficulty is, to agreat extent, obviated by the tool shown.

In the embodiment illustrated, there is provided a pair of arms 6 and 7mutually pivoted at 4. These anns may be operated by the high mechanicaladvantage hand clamp shown generally at 5. Squeezing handle 11 towardhandle 9 causes arms 6 and 7 to rotate toward each other. Handle 9 isintegrally interlocked with arm 6 by pin 10. Handle 11 is pivoted to arm7 at pin 12. Pin 15 intermediate the ends of handle 121 pivotallysecures lever 14 to handle 11. The opposite end 17 of lever 14 fitswithin handle 9 and engages the end of stop screw 20. Spring 21 isconnected at 22 to arm 7 and is secured at its opposite end to handle 9,which may be of U-shaped cross section to receive this end of the springand end 17 of the lever 14. I

Clamps 30 and 31 are secured to arms 6 and 7 respectively. Each of theseclamps includes a lower clamping element 33 and an upper clampingelement 34. The lower element is pivotally secured by a pin 35 to arm 6or 7. The lower element is formed with a flat base 36 lying parallel tothe arms6 and 7 and with an upwardly extending lip 38 extending thelength of its outer edge. Integrally formed with the lower clampingelement 33 are a pair of parallel, upwardly extending trunnions 40 and41, spaced apart to function as journals. Locking pin 43, secured intrunnions 40 and 41, passes through one end of upper clamping element 34to pivotally secure it to lower clamping element 33. Upper clampingelement 34 is an elongated, flattened member adapted to pivot in a planenormal to the base 36. The side 48 of element 34 falls adjacent to theinner surface of lip 38. The guide element 50 projects normally frombase 36 and may be integrally formed with trunnion 40. This guideelement projects above the upper surface of base 36 a sufficientdistance to guide and locate the side edge of the belts being clampedtogether.

A latch or locking means 56 is provided at the end of each clamp. Theselatches are secured on flanges 57 normal to upper clamping elements 34and preferably consist of a conventional loop 59 secured at one end to apivoting link 60 in turn secured to bracket 61 riveted to flange 57 to62. Loop 59 is designed to engage a hook 65 riveted at 66 to the end oflower clamping element 33.

A pin 70 extends through aligned openings in elements 33 and is fixedlysecured to one of these elements, for example by setscrew 73 and isslidably engaged with the opposite clamping element 33 but provided witha peened head 71 to preclude the pin from slipping from interengagementwith this element. Pin 70 permits the two clamps to move toward eachother while yet preserving their parallel orientation. Pin 70 supportshelical spring 74 that bears at opposite ends against flanges 76projecting downwardly from elements 33, thus tending to separate the twoclamping elements 30 and 31.

In operation, the two ends of a belt are passed through the clampingelements 30 and 31 withthe belt sides 80 and 81 aligned adjacent toguides 50. The free ends of the belt are drawn together as closely asmay be done conveniently under hand pressure and the upper clampelements 34 are latched in place. The belt ends may still be spaced adistance of one-half inch or more. The operator then squeezes handles 9and 11 causing arms 6 and 7 to pivot toward one another. Clamps 30 and31 move toward one another in a parallel fashion guided by pin 70 andpivots 35. The handle is squeezed sufficiently to bring the free ends ofthe belts together so that a pin may be passed through the interengagedloops attached to the ends of the belts, thus joining the belt ends.Once the belt ends have been secured together, the handles may bereleased, the clamps opened, and the tool then returns to its normalopen position under the tension of spring 74.

Other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art and are withinthe following claims.

I claim:

1. At tool for mating the free ends of elongated objects comprising apair of arms mounted for movement toward and away from one another, aclamp secured to each of said arms having clamping surfaces adapted toreceive and transversely engage one of said free ends, manually actuatedforce-increasing means for moving together the portions of said arms towhich said clamps are secured, said arms being pivoted about a commonaxis, said clamps being pivotally mounted to said arms, and furthercomprising a linking element extending between said clamps and adaptedto prevent relative angular movement of one clamp with respect to theother.

2. The tool of claim 1 wherein said linking element is fixedly mountedto one of said clamps and slidably mounted to the other of said clamps.

3. A tool for mating free ends of elongated objects comprising a pair ofarms mounted for movement toward and away from one another, a clampsecured to each of said arms having clamping surfaces adapted to receiveand transversely engage one of said free ends, manually actuatedforce-increasing means for moving together the portions of said arms towhich said clamps are secured, each clamp including guide means having aflat surface to locate and orient the edges of said flat elongatedobjects.

4. A tool for mating the free ends of elongated objects comprising apair of arms pivoted about a common axis for relative movement towardand away from one another, a clamp pivotally mounted to each said armhaving elongated clamping surfaces oriented perpendicular to thedirection of relative movement of said clamps, a rod fixedly mounted toone of said clamps and passing through a cooperating hole in the otherof said clamps to prevent relative angular movement of said clamps,spring means surrounding said rod and adapted to bias said clamps apart,force-increasing means for moving together the portions of said arms towhich said clamps are pivoted adapted to be actuated by a singlehandedsqueeze grip of two relatively movable lever means.

1. At tool for mating the free ends of elongated objects comprising apair of arms mounted for movement toward and away from one another, aclamp secured to each of said arms having clamping surfaces adapted toreceive and transversely engage one of said free ends, manually actuatedforce-increasing means for moving together the portions of said arms towhich said clamps are secured, said arms being pivoted about a commonaxis, said clamps being pivotally mounted to said arms, and furthercomprising a linking element extending between said clamps and adaptedto prevent relative angular movement of one clamp with respect to theother.
 2. The tool of claim 1 wherein said linking element is fixedlymounted to one of said clamps and slidably mounted to the other of saidclamps.
 3. A tool for mating free ends of elongated objects comprising apair of arms mounted for movement toward and away from one another, aclamp secured to each of said arms having clamping surfaces adapted toreceive and transversely engage one of said free ends, manually actuatedforce-increasing means for moving together the portions of said arms towhich said clamps are secured, each clamp including guide means having aflat surface to locate and orient the edges of said flat elongatedobjects.
 4. A tool for mating the free ends of elongated objectscomprising a pair of arms pivoted about a common axis for relativemovement toward and away from one another, a clamp pivotally mounted toeach said arm having elongated clamping surfaces oriented perpendicularto the direction of relative movement of said clamps, a rod fixedlymounted to one of said clamps and passing through a cooperating hole inthe other of said clamps to prevent relative angular movement of saidclamps, spring means surrounding said rod and adapted to bias saidclamps apart, force-increasing means for moving together the portions ofsaid arms to which said clamps are pivoted adapted to be actuated by asinglehanded squeeze grip of two relatively movable lever means.